My Uncle Mike passed away a few months ago, but so much of him remains in my memory — big frame, impossible mustache; Santa each Christmas, grouchy a good bit of the remaining year; huge laugh, ridiculous nicknames, clowning for the kids, his eyes meeting mine and welling up with tears.

He cried every time I saw him pray.

Uncle Mike felt like a spiritual grandpa to me, and I recently found out why — he led both of my parents to the Lord.

In June I went to Chicago to be with my family for the memorial service. On the way back to the airport I asked my dad to tell me the story of how he became a Christian. Dad told me that my uncle had always been a wild man, but someone had invited him to church along the way and he had an encounter with God that changed his life.

Shortly after this, my aunt and uncle kept inviting my parents to church. When my parents finally went, my mom met Jesus. This development was kind of bothersome to my dad, who wasn’t really looking for God at the moment. He told my mom one Saturday night, “If you and your brother want to go to church, fine! It’s just not my thing, Can we talk about something else?” But my dad loves my mom, and as he watched her getting ready for church the next morning he decided to go with her.

He was patiently waiting out the sermon when he began to sense something happening within himself. The pastor offered a standard altar call and my dad said he was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to respond. Before he knew what was happening, he says, he was on his feet and moving towards the stage. When he looked up, there was Uncle Mike, arms opened wide, eyes meeting my dad’s and welling up with tears. They hugged and they prayed together.

And I grew up with parents who knew God loved them and showed me that God loves me.

So for me, eternal life began before I was even born, with my Uncle Mike inviting my parents to church, eager to give away the love and acceptance that he felt from God. And for my Uncle Mike, eternal life began with whoever it was who invited him to church.

A small invitation can have a massive effect.

In September we’ll start our 27th Alpha course. In the 15 years we’ve hosted this 11-week course we’ve seen 375+ people graduate and more than 150 decide to follow Jesus and be baptized.

And every one of them was somebody’s uncle, somebody’s aunt, someone’s mom or dad.

And each of them was invited by someone who saw them and realized that God saw them too.

And who knows how many lives have been changed. All from an invitation.

Alpha starts up on Tuesday, September 12th at 6:30pm and is open to anyone asking questions about Jesus. For more information go here.

- Bobby Spahn

Many are asking, “Who can
show us any good?”
Let the light of your face
shine upon us, O Lord.
You have filled my heart
with greater joy
than when their grain and
new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in
peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
-Psalm 5:6-8

It’s election season and most people I know are non-plussed about the political situation in our country. It’s as though the left and right have finally pushed themselves so far from each other that our nation is pulling thin, stretched like gauze.

But there may be something of deep value hidden in this sense of exhaustion.

When I look at the front window of my house, I see tiny handprints and smudges, I notice the crack where the lawnmower picked up a rock and threw it against the glass. But when I look through the window, I see the wider world beyond — big blue sky, swaying palms, mossy live oak, life upon life upon life.

Many agree that a look at the fabric of our nation leaves the impression that our situation is dire — we might be pulling apart. But a look through the fabric, stretched as it is, may just reveal a glimmer of the light to come.

If we look past our nationalism, we see a kingdom.

The arrived and arriving kingdom that Jesus declared is a place of healing and hope for all people. Where the poor are elevated and the powerful gladly assume the role of servant; a kingdom with no borders to protect, no agendas to advance, save a deep and passionate love for the King and the marginalized. A kingdom that not only accepts refugees, but seeks them out and calls them blessed.

This is the kingdom we’ve been invited into, that we’ve been hard-wired to inhabit. And yes, today, we deal with the realities of this world that God so loves. We elect our leaders, we support them and pray for them. We respond with generosity and gratitude and humility to the incredible amount of safety and privilege we experience as residents of this nation. But God help us if we get so lost in our politics that we no longer point to His kingdom.

“Who can show us any good,” the Psalmist asks; many in our country echo, “Who can make us great again?”

We see goodness in the grace of God. When His light pours in through our threadbare securities; when His greatness bankrupts our lesser ambitions and reveals:

Jesus didn’t die to secure our rights to a great nation.

He went to prepare us a place in His kingdom.

There is a great and growing dissatisfaction with the status quo in America. And this isn’t comfortable, but it might just be a peculiar grace.

And if we grab hold of this grace, or rather let it grab hold of us, we might be able to offer our world something that cannot be found anywhere else — Life in all it’s fullness.

- Bobby Spahn

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. - Acts 3:6-8

A few months ago I had the privilege of having dinner with some dear friends and mentors, Gary and Joy. While waiting for our food to arrive we sat and discussed the current events of life and how things were going. As we talked, our waitress came over to refill our drinks and then, all of a sudden, Joy gets a huge smile on her face. After the waitress left we curiously asked Joy, “What are you smiling about?” And with a look of gladness and joy, she replied, "I think God just gave me a word for our waitress."

I'll never forget the look on Joy's face. There was nothing weird or self-indulgent about it. All you could sense was both her gratefulness and excitement that God seemed to be wanting to partner with Joy in presenting his presence and love to our waitress.

So at the end of our meal, Joy quietly walked over to the waitress and shared with her what she felt God had put on her heart and asked if she could pray for her. By the end of their time together the waitress was deeply moved and grateful, confirming that what Joy had shared made an impact. After this, we just joyfully went on our way.

What made this moment all the more impactful for me, as a bystander, was the fact that we had just left a conference, that Gary and Joy were leading, designed to help a church learn how to live a “naturally supernatural” lifestyle. And the conference was great! Close to 500 people attended the event, and some amazing God moments happened. However, this experience with the waitress did not have a stage, and it did not have a mic, and it did not have an auditorium full of people. It was just a couple friends at a restaurant, talking about life, when we one of them notices God at work and she decides to join him in the process.

Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” [Jn. 5.17, NIV].

When Peter and John encountered this man with the healing power of the kingdom, it is right after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and all the amazing things that followed that event (Acts 2). And yet, this experience did not happen on a stage or in a church building, but in a familiar place: the gates of the temple.

For Peter and John, walking to the temple for prayer was nothing new. In fact, it’s very possible that these disciples visited the temple with Jesus and had passed by this man before. What made this time so different, however, was Pentecost, that outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on his children. In this moment the sacred and secular were no longer divided, as God’s presence was now carried in his people.

Luke tells us that the place where this all transpired was at a gate called Beautiful, and beautiful the thought is, that God longs to bring his extraordinary into our ordinary. That with him, no time is wasted time if we simply make ourselves open and available to whatever he would have for us, moment by moment, day by day, no matter where we find ourselves.

Beautiful the thought is, if we would not use our conferences or churches as hiding places, but instead as catapults into a world that could use the healing touch of its Father.